


A Worthy Goal

by coolCoolGlasses



Category: Stardew Valley (Video Game)
Genre: Hope, It's gonna be ok, M/M, Melancholy, Middle Ages, Romantic Fluff, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-29
Updated: 2021-01-29
Packaged: 2021-03-15 21:41:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 744
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29071200
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/coolCoolGlasses/pseuds/coolCoolGlasses
Summary: A lil' story about the experiences gained by the time you're in your 30s.
Relationships: Elliott/Harvey (Stardew Valley)
Comments: 4
Kudos: 20





	A Worthy Goal

**Author's Note:**

> Started writing this one for a different project but it added such a tangent I needed to cut it. 
> 
> Amaze as I write something sort of serious and not intentionally goofy.
> 
> Why yes, it's a reinterpretation of Harvey's 8-heart event.
> 
> Enjoy.

At the edge of the dock, Elliott flicked his wrist, sending the fishing line into the ocean. His coat and dress shirt were gone, his green pants rolled up past his calves, and his auburn hair bundled into a lazy bun. 

Beside him, Harvey dangled his long legs off the dock, kicking up water with his toes. His face was marked with zinc oxide and his body covered with a pink and blue floral-patterned shirt, a pair of green swim trunks, and a cartoonishly large straw hat.

Harvey was reading Elliot’s latest work: a summary outline as well as key scenes for his next pitch. The writer strained to listen to the doctor’s soft hums and clicks of his tongue. 

Surely by now Elliott should know what these noises meant. 

Last winter, they had, without explicit acknowledgement of it, fallen into a pattern of  _ simply existing _ in the other’s presence. Sometimes he sought Harvey in the square or fountain. Other times Harvey found him on the beach. When it was time, it simply happened, no preamble.

If Elliott were asked to pinpoint what prompted this, it was the evening in the Stardrop when Harvey had mentioned that as a boy he dreamed of flying. His poor eyesight and fear of heights had ended those fantasies. Elliott’s jaw must have dropped to the floor because the doctor then launched into comforting  _ him. _

“It’s okay. Don’t be sad,” he said, the left corner of his mouth tugged back in an impression of a smile. Brown eyes that usually twinkled were the tiniest bit changed as he looked at something inward. “Not everyone can achieve their dreams. That’s just the way the world is.”

Elliott would be lying if he claimed to not know what the doctor was talking about. A few months prior he received the advance on  _ The Blue Tower _ and it wasn’t as much as he had hoped. The thing about a book advance, though... it wasn’t his money free and clear. Not exactly. If he could sell more than the advance, he’d profit… but if he couldn’t meet the advance he’d have to pay the difference back. 

So not getting much  _ was actually a good thing. _

But it meant Elliott was effectively in more debt than when he began. Even if he found success it didn’t guarantee that he could continue churning out ideas, let alone ideas that would sell. In all likelihood there may be a point when Elliott would have to take on a second job. He may not even find recognition  _ in his lifetime _ . 

The success of his endeavors were dependent  _ on factors he had absolutely no control over _ . 

Recognizing these things had crushed him in a way he couldn’t put to words.

“But I am a doctor now, and a good one,” Harvey continued. “If I can help the people of Stardew live healthily and in comfort, then that’s a fine trade-off for the sky.” He pat Elliott’s shoulder twice before squeezing it. “It’s a life I can choose, and it’s a life worthy to live.”

_ True enough.  _

Whether he could sell his ideas or not, Elliott could  _ choose _ to write the books  _ he _ would have liked to have when he was a boy, lost and questioning if he was alone, broken, or a freak.  _ And that would absolutely be a worthy goal. _

In that conversation the writer had found something deeply comforting about the doctor.

Another click of Harvey’s tongue returned Elliott to the present. 

Harvey’s eyebrows were leveled with…  _ what? Concentration? Frustration? _ He closed the notebook and set it in the gap between them.

Above the white noise of the waves they sat quietly, with Harvey considering the specs of islands in the horizon and Elliott fidgeting while waiting for Harvey’s analysis.

Elliott couldn’t contain his curiosity for long. He put down his fishing pole. “Harv?”

Harvey looked at his friend, sizing him up, as if seeing him in a new light.

Elliott felt himself tense under that stare. He needed to fill the silence. 

“I can take critique, and I can take it from you. Please, come out with it. If you weren't enticed, that is perfectly fine. I value your opinion and your-”

“Elliott,” Harvey spoke, quietly. It took so little for him to halt his stream of babble. “It’s wonderful. Younger me would have loved a book like this.”

Together they rested their hands on the notebook, outside edges of their palms barely touching.


End file.
